The Globe reports at least two top city officials routinely deleted e-mail, in possible violation of state law. But don't worry - Tom Menino wasn't one of them, since he doesn't use e-mail.
Ive defended Menino many times before on these board but this is just insane. Not only does one guy delete his emails but he does it EVERYDAY??? What is he doing that requires him to delete not only incoming but outgoing emails daily? I admit I strive for an empty mailbox so I do delete much of what comes in when its done, but I leave outgoing alone.
As for the Mayor, how does the Mayor of a major American city function without email. Most jobs require email these days. Fast food workers and construction workers tend to get by without it , I guess mayors can too. It seems hard to believe that he can process everything he should be to run the city properly without email. He is either finding a way around it, things are happening without his ok or he is slowing down the system. In any case it is not good at all.
Every financial company in the country, regardless of size, has to abide by retention rules. If I ran a 22,000 person organization and my top attorney came out in the paper and said we were "struggling" with this problem he'd be on my carpet in the morning and probably wouldn't be walking out the door with a job. If I found out a top officer who certainly knows better were pulling this stunt he wouldn't even get invited into the office. He'd be enjoying a one way ticket to human resources.
Monday should be interesting at city hall - then again maybe not.
Considering that the mayor himself avoids electronic copies of things he does I think it is possible that he would have been in support of his senior staff members following suit.
There's other evidence of the opinion. Indeed, why didn't the request for e-mails go straight to city hall IT dept. They would then pull out the backups of the exchange server logs. That's the logical place to get the e-mails.
"We're struggling with this problem" is the best possible light the city's attorney can put this disgrace in if the Mayor can't hold anyone else accountable without implicating himself as well.
That is a poor excuse. After all we had business before the internet, we had federal government before the internet, we even had universities before the internet. Heck we had all of these things before cars, electricity and telephones as well. I do not see the mayor riding a horse to his office then lighting a gas lit torch to read over hand pressed newspapers do you?
This is an important issue mainly because email has become something that most offices in the world use to communicate. I would venture to say it is the means by which most of Boston City Hall operates. Considering that the mayor runs a large city that has been at the forefront of technology for the past 100 years one could be forgiven for assuming that maybe he would be using email which has been in regular use in the Greater Boston area for well over 20 years (hospitals and universities in the area being early adopters.)
I think it would be helpful for people to know how he gets his information on a daily basis. I know the President for the most part rarely emails because they have information delivered to them by hand, surrogates ready to go at a moments notice and a large communications staff to handle that all for them. Does the mayor do the same thing? It would be interesting to know just how many more staff hours are produced in the city due to the Mayor not reading or sending any emails.
is half as paranoid as I hear, there are techs going over hard drives right now, scrubbing data. Sorta like refusing to take the breathalyzer from the trooper...
Email retention rules can generally be set up server-side. Why aren't they doing this in city hall? IT rule #1: users can't be trusted to do anything, ever. There are no exceptions to rule #1.
Menino's private cell phone records are public documents under the state Public Records Law, to the extent that he is conducting public business on them. That's an easy one that the Globe should follow-up, because the law is on their side.
This is probably the only time in his life that Mayor Thomas Menino can be compared to Sarah Palin, since she also tried to use personal devices (email, in her case, not cell phones) to conduct public business.
As for emails from Tinlin and Kineavy, those should be easy to track down. They sent emails to people who themselves did not delete their copies, so they can be requested as public documents.
One such email: this one sent to Kineavy. If Kineavy deleted it -- which it sounds like he did -- then there's possibly a $500 fine and/or 1 year in jail already for him. I think he needs a lawyer ASAP -- a personal one to represent his own interests, not Boston's corporate counsel. I think the private sector is calling for him.
The question here lies in what was deleted. Every community in the state is supposed to adhere to record retention laws. In the case of email, most communities keep an archive of email. Meaning for every email that is sent to Mumbles office...their should be his copy and a copy for the archive duplicated by the email server for the public record. If Mumbles only has his email deleted....he's not breaking any laws. If he puts his fat fingers on the archive.....well he's in deep sh*t.
How do I know? I run a IT Department for a small town
Michael Kineavy is Mayor Menino's closest and most powerful political advisor. Actions by him and others in the mayor's cabinet to delete public records are illegal and outrageous, and point to nothing less than a cover-up at the highest levels of the Menino administration. As mayor, I would immediately fire any cabinet-level official or employee who so flagrantly violated the law and the public trust.
.....the same Michael Flaherty who violated the open meeting rule in the City Council? Forcing the city to pay over $200,000 in fines and more in legal fees. Seems kinda funny coming from him, no?
Flaherty announced that he will hold a press conference on Monday morning to call on state Attorney General Martha Coakley and Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley to investigate the alleged destruction of electronic public records by officials in the Menino administration.
The various Globe stories on Menino to date have been mere body blows; this one is an uppercut and will draw the first blood.
Amazing that the Globe buried the story on page 20. What were they thinking?
This is what happens when power goes unchecked and unopposed. And it speaks to the central issue in this election: the need to reform a system where power is concentrated with one individual indefinitely. If ever there were a case-in-point for eliminating Boston's strong Mayor system and establishing term limits and greater checks and balances, this is it.
Sam Yoon is right. There is no point in just electing a new mayor. We need to elect a mayor who will change this patronage machine system. We need Term Limits and checks and balances in City Hall. And we need them now.
Comments
Ive defended Menino many
Ive defended Menino many times before on these board but this is just insane. Not only does one guy delete his emails but he does it EVERYDAY??? What is he doing that requires him to delete not only incoming but outgoing emails daily? I admit I strive for an empty mailbox so I do delete much of what comes in when its done, but I leave outgoing alone.
As for the Mayor, how does the Mayor of a major American city function without email. Most jobs require email these days. Fast food workers and construction workers tend to get by without it , I guess mayors can too. It seems hard to believe that he can process everything he should be to run the city properly without email. He is either finding a way around it, things are happening without his ok or he is slowing down the system. In any case it is not good at all.
Even little tiny companies do this
Every financial company in the country, regardless of size, has to abide by retention rules. If I ran a 22,000 person organization and my top attorney came out in the paper and said we were "struggling" with this problem he'd be on my carpet in the morning and probably wouldn't be walking out the door with a job. If I found out a top officer who certainly knows better were pulling this stunt he wouldn't even get invited into the office. He'd be enjoying a one way ticket to human resources.
Monday should be interesting at city hall - then again maybe not.
Considering that the mayor
Considering that the mayor himself avoids electronic copies of things he does I think it is possible that he would have been in support of his senior staff members following suit.
Exchange server
There's other evidence of the opinion. Indeed, why didn't the request for e-mails go straight to city hall IT dept. They would then pull out the backups of the exchange server logs. That's the logical place to get the e-mails.
Representing his client
"We're struggling with this problem" is the best possible light the city's attorney can put this disgrace in if the Mayor can't hold anyone else accountable without implicating himself as well.
you don't need email to run a city
"Fast food workers and construction workers tend to get by without it, I guess mayors can too."
of course mayors can too. they always have!
what, we didn't have mayors before the internet? c'mon. if you're gonna criticize someone, do it about sometime that's important.
That is a poor excuse. After
That is a poor excuse. After all we had business before the internet, we had federal government before the internet, we even had universities before the internet. Heck we had all of these things before cars, electricity and telephones as well. I do not see the mayor riding a horse to his office then lighting a gas lit torch to read over hand pressed newspapers do you?
This is an important issue mainly because email has become something that most offices in the world use to communicate. I would venture to say it is the means by which most of Boston City Hall operates. Considering that the mayor runs a large city that has been at the forefront of technology for the past 100 years one could be forgiven for assuming that maybe he would be using email which has been in regular use in the Greater Boston area for well over 20 years (hospitals and universities in the area being early adopters.)
I think it would be helpful for people to know how he gets his information on a daily basis. I know the President for the most part rarely emails because they have information delivered to them by hand, surrogates ready to go at a moments notice and a large communications staff to handle that all for them. Does the mayor do the same thing? It would be interesting to know just how many more staff hours are produced in the city due to the Mayor not reading or sending any emails.
if da mayah
is half as paranoid as I hear, there are techs going over hard drives right now, scrubbing data. Sorta like refusing to take the breathalyzer from the trooper...
former and latter
The former is willful violation of records law, the later is asserting if 5th amendment rights.
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This shouldn't be a user decision in the first place
Email retention rules can generally be set up server-side. Why aren't they doing this in city hall? IT rule #1: users can't be trusted to do anything, ever. There are no exceptions to rule #1.
Loose ends
Menino's private cell phone records are public documents under the state Public Records Law, to the extent that he is conducting public business on them. That's an easy one that the Globe should follow-up, because the law is on their side.
This is probably the only time in his life that Mayor Thomas Menino can be compared to Sarah Palin, since she also tried to use personal devices (email, in her case, not cell phones) to conduct public business.
As for emails from Tinlin and Kineavy, those should be easy to track down. They sent emails to people who themselves did not delete their copies, so they can be requested as public documents.
One such email: this one sent to Kineavy. If Kineavy deleted it -- which it sounds like he did -- then there's possibly a $500 fine and/or 1 year in jail already for him. I think he needs a lawyer ASAP -- a personal one to represent his own interests, not Boston's corporate counsel. I think the private sector is calling for him.
Drip Drip Drip
This campaign has just been drip, drip, drip on this tired old administration. We need a new mayor - and we need to change the system.
The question here lies in
The question here lies in what was deleted. Every community in the state is supposed to adhere to record retention laws. In the case of email, most communities keep an archive of email. Meaning for every email that is sent to Mumbles office...their should be his copy and a copy for the archive duplicated by the email server for the public record. If Mumbles only has his email deleted....he's not breaking any laws. If he puts his fat fingers on the archive.....well he's in deep sh*t.
How do I know? I run a IT Department for a small town
Flaherty: Fire the bums
This just in from Michael Flaherty:
Is this not.....
.....the same Michael Flaherty who violated the open meeting rule in the City Council? Forcing the city to pay over $200,000 in fines and more in legal fees. Seems kinda funny coming from him, no?
Flaherty on Monday to Call on Coakley and Conley to Investigate
Flaherty announced that he will hold a press conference on Monday morning to call on state Attorney General Martha Coakley and Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley to investigate the alleged destruction of electronic public records by officials in the Menino administration.
The various Globe stories on Menino to date have been mere body blows; this one is an uppercut and will draw the first blood.
Amazing that the Globe buried the story on page 20. What were they thinking?
how does this square
with the open meeting law violation. Does anyone know the details of the case?
www.COLOR OF CHANGE.org Sign the petition!
Yoon: Bad mayor, bad
Sam Yoon checks in:
Spot On
Sam Yoon is right. There is no point in just electing a new mayor. We need to elect a mayor who will change this patronage machine system. We need Term Limits and checks and balances in City Hall. And we need them now.
Dear Yoon: be better than the mayor
Yoon is not proposing a better system for delivering some money to the workers who benefit from the corrupt system now.
pretty weak and wonky
Reads like a piece of an essay for Local Govt 101 class. Yoon's a bright guy but isn't sounding like a leader.
Instead, more like a Billy Joel sequel: He didn't start the fire.